Whether it’s mixing spray agents, monitoring application results in the field, or cleaning off the spray boom – plant protection measures come with a risk to health for the operator. Skin, eyes, airways, and mucous membranes can be damaged by direct contact with active ingredients or by breathing in vapors and gases. With the new Safety Kit, Amazone offers essential protection to prevent these health risks. The safe, comfortable operation of Amazone machinery, and a high degree of safety when working with plant protection agents are of high importance to Amazone.

The personal protective equipment kit consists of protective gloves, a sleeved apron, safety glasses, and a respirator with an active filter, as well as an eye rinsing bottle and disinfectant. All items in the Safety Kit are DIN or EN certified and can be safely stored in the accompanying Safety Kit case.

The certified sleeved apron with fastening at the back is particularly useful as the durable, robust item is quick to put on and take off. When worn with long-sleeved work clothing, it protects the majority of the upper body, arms, and legs.

The Amazone Safety Kit is available in sizes M and XL for a price of 195.00 EUR plus VAT. The kit can not only be conveniently ordered with a new Amazone crop protection sprayer but can also be purchased separately from the local dealer.

The post Stay on the Safe Side with the Amazone Safety Kit appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

Responsibility for process technology and safety

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ranks deficiencies in maintenance safety among the most common causes of accidents in plants. Above all where a number of people are working on one line, it is important to secure the area under maintenance against inadvertent intervention – for example, by means of seals – as the consequences for life and limb can be devastating.

“We hear about workplace accidents during maintenance all the time,”

explains Lisa Schmidt, Product Sales Manager for hygienic valve technology at GEA.

This is avoidable and can easily be prevented with a systematic LoTo approach. Since the solutions currently available were not convincing for GEA valves, the company decided to produce its own package of process technology and LoTo safety systems.

Says Schmidt:

“We consider it our responsibility to support our customers to the best of our ability when it comes to maintaining their duty of care toward their workforces.”

GEA’s customers – manufacturers in the food and pharmaceutical industries – operate complex plants with long lengths of piping where visibility is often an issue. If, for instance, machines are repaired during ongoing operation, it is important to specifically isolate these working areas from energy sources, i.e. sources of danger.

Schmidt reports:

“In our case, the danger lies in the media flowing through the pipelines. Specific valves or entire valve clusters can be secured using our LoTo solutions. One Canadian customer recently ordered 1,600 LoTo devices for all their plant’s butterfly valves, while other operators explicitly designate individual valves to eliminate specific potential hazards.”

Tailored LoTo devices for each valve

A GEA LoTo unit comprises a shut-off device that fixes the valve in the open or closed position and an optional lock that only authorized individuals can open. The type of fixing varies depending on the type of valve; they are available for all nominal diameters and actuator sizes and can easily be retrofitted:

• Butterfly valves can be shut off mechanically. The disk lock version uses a pin that is pushed into the valve stem and can also be used with an extension. This principle can similarly be applied to leakage butterfly valves.
• There are two ways of shutting off single-seat valves: Either the air supply can be shut off directly on the control top or actuator using the airlock principle, or the entire actuator can be locked via a disk lock which prevents the valve disks from moving. This is advisable where a higher level of safety is desired. In the event of a water hammer, the valve remains closed, ensuring an almost completely leak-proof system.
• GEA offers a bellow lock for VESTA valves in aseptic applications with manual actuators which is suitable for large and small nominal sizes.
• GEA LoTo solutions are generally designed for single-seat valves, but the main stroke in double-seat valves can also be locked. As VARIVENT and D-Tec valves with lift can still be actuated, the operator should consider using further safeguards here – for example, the air supply to the lifts.

The post GEA Ensures Safe Unit Maintenance through LoTo Principle for Valve Technology appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

The Fertilize SAFE program brings all of Fertilizer Canada’s mandatory, audited safety codes and training resources under one umbrella brand to emphasize our industry commitment to keeping employees, farmers, first responders, and the public are safe and secure. A best-in-class safety stewardship program, Fertilize SAFE unifies our efforts to educate, enable and empower those in the fertilizer supply chain. Through industry-enforced codes of practice, educational resources, and training tools, Fertilize SAFE helps define safety and security for all industry players.

The SAFE in Fertilize SAFE is an acronym that captures the program’s four pillars, Standardized Codes of Practice, Accessible Training Resources (for the entire supply chain), Focused Industry Education, and Early and Enforced Industry Adoption.

“For over ten years, Fertilizer Canada has proactively developed safety and security initiatives. Formalizing under the Fertilize SAFE brand, we can more readily communicate and deliver all-encompassing programming. By creating a visual identity and a name, we hope to further establish credibility and brand recognition in the safety and security domain,”

says Clyde Graham, Executive Vice President, Fertilizer Canada.

“Our members are incredibly diligent about safety and security, and stakeholders, government officials, and the public must recognize the proactive and comprehensive programming Fertilizer Canada offer.”

Under the new Fertilize SAFE brand, Fertilizer Canada is focused on:
• enforcing industry-leading standards and Codes of Practice
• promoting the use of best-in-class training resources
• supporting educational needs through strong e-learning programming; and
• enforcing early industry adoption

As a leading advocacy organization, Fertilizer Canada is well-positioned to support its members in advancing the safe, secure, and sustainable production and use of fertilizer through proactive, science-based programs, innovation, and advocacy. The Fertilize SAFE program is an example of Fertilizer Canada’s work on behalf of its membership to promote and enforce industry-led Codes of Practice. While simultaneously making strides in our strategic goal of achieving federal recognition of the Codes of Practice as the standard in product safety.

The post Fertilizer Canada Announces New Safety and Security Brand, Fertilize SAFE appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

Features for the new online platform include:

• Place equipment orders from your phone, laptop, ipad etc.
• Create a shopping list for items you order all the time.
• Get all your invoices digitally.
• Search by part number, vendor or product category.
• Track your shipments online.
• All orders connect to our system and your customer account.

  

Source: Northwest pump

The post Northwest Pump new online purchasing site appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

OSHA has published guidelines concerning safety practices and protective systems to prevent cave-ins and improve worker safety. However, the first step for a safer operation is pre-planning.

Pre-job planning is critically important for accident-free trenching, as most incidents occur due to inadequate initial planning. To successfully preplan, employers should learn as much as possible about the jobsite and the materials they will have to have on-hand in order to work in compliance with OSHA trenching and excavation standards. Some factors to consider when preplanning are soil classification, proximity of nearby structures, and quantity of shoring or protective systems that may be required.

Once the job has begun, implementing OSHA-compliant protective systems is the best way to prevent cave-ins. The easiest way to remember them three most commonly used types of protective systems are “The Three S’s”: shoring, shielding, and sloping. Employers are required to slope and bench the sides of the excavation; support the sides of the excavation; and place a shield between the side of the excavation and the work area.

Employers are free to choose the most practical protective system design that will provide the necessary protections for their employees. OSHA trench excavation slope requirements specify that the slope angle be not steeper than 1.5:1; which is a safe gradation for any type of soil. Sloping and benching systems must be approved by a registered professional engineer. When using trench boxes or shields, employees must use ones that have been approved by a registered professional engineer.

Other precautions employers are required to take include providing support systems such as shoring, bracing, or underpinning to ensure that adjacent structures remain stable for the protection of workers. These needs should be identified during pre-planning.

OSHA also has requirements regarding the safe installation and removal of protective systems once the job is complete. These are required to prevent failures due to sliding, falling, and overloading that could result in the injury or death of employees, or damage to structures.

Source: Papé Machinery

The post Papé Machinery follows OSHA guidelines appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

Agriculture is system critical. With the coronavirus pandemic, the planet is facing an unprecedented modern challenge. Securing food supply must be a top priority and maintaining access to food is critical in fighting this virus both short and long term.

We feature this statement about the role of AGCO during covid 19 crises ***

We recognize the key role that our equipment plays in a sustainable food supply. Our commitment is to keeping production running and inventory open and accessible as long as possible, so farmers everywhere have the tools they need. It means continuing to operate our parts, service and support functions for customers so they can keep feeding the world, whether planting, harvesting or caring for animals. And it means keeping these commitments while protecting the health of our customers, employees and communities.

For our customers and dealers

Farmers and the agricultural supply chain have never been more important. We are doing everything we can to keep our plants, distribution and field support operating normally with minimal disruptions to help farmers grow and harvest the food we all need to survive. From our CEO to every employee across the globe, this is mission critical.

For our employees

The safety and well-being of our employees is our top priority. We are closely following guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and other health agencies to protect our employees. We’ve implemented international and domestic travel restrictions, drastically increased our sanitation efforts and implemented remote or staggered shifts to follow social-distancing recommendations, including asking employees that can work from home to do so.

For our communities

We are following and adhering to local regulation and guidance in the communities where we operate. We’re also giving back: our facilities and employees around the globe are helping to address local impacts of COVID-19 as we all combat this pandemic together.

Source: AGCO

The post AGCO takes precautions to keep working appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.

Serving their customers

They believe that their role serving customers is a critical one and they want to make sure that their customers continue to get the best service possible.

The Aerobotics team is here to provide you with intelligent tools to inform your farming decisions. They are still fully operational in the following areas:

• Drones are still flying and collecting data around the world.
• Processing departments and systems are still operating and as always, delivering high-quality data and farm analytics to our users.
• Business development and technical assistance departments are still available either to meet in person or remotely. This is entirely up to the preference of their customers.

Precautions being taken (Aerobotics Team)

When visiting farms or attending meetings with clients, their team will be taking the following protective measures as recommended by the WHO (World Health Organization).

• Hands will be washed before, during and after the visitation
• Social distancing will be maintained at approximately 3 feet/1 metre
• No visits will be made by a team member showing signs of coronavirus

Precautions being taken (Drone Pilots)

Fortunately, no physical contact is required between farmers and drone pilots.

Pilots will continue to work independently on farms and only need to speak to farmers on the phone in order to arrange access.

In the case that personal contact is required, the same precautions that apply to the Aerobotics Team (seen above) will apply.

Community support

Aerobotics is here to support you in both the good and tough times.

They recognize that being away from family and friends during this time can be difficult. Please reach out to their team if they can be of service and provide you with a sense of certainty during these uncertain times. They have boots on the ground in all the places listed in the contact details section below.

Caring for their employees

To prevent the spread of the virus and do their part to ensure the health of the team, Aerobotics global employees will be working remotely until further notice.

Aerobotics employees that are showing signs of the coronavirus will receive the support they need in order to return to good health without the worry of lost income.

While all domestic and international travel has been put on hold, their global team has the capacity to visit clients’ farms within respective areas.

Their Client Success Team has been briefed on precautionary measures.

Global contact details

While their offices are currently closed, please make use of the below contact details to get in touch with the North america department.

North America

Chris Lawson

Email: chris@aerobotics.com

Cell: +1 209 471 0662

Greg Land

Email: greg.land@aerobotics.comCell: +1 772 584 9762

Source: Aerobotics

The post Aerobotics offers services in accordance with Covid-19 restrictions appeared first on North America FarmQuip Magazine.